RE: [cobalt-users] Save up to $500 on your next Dialtone Internet bill!

["Dan Kriwitsky" <webhosting@xxxxxxxxx>]

> 	I did indeed look at the post. I also noticed that, just
> like mine, all of Dan's postings contain a signature which contains
> a URL on which income generating services are offered.

Yes, it's called a sig file. (Usenet newbie 101).

>
> 	That's viral marketing. In Dan's case he may very well do
> this for his health, to stroke his ego, or just because he gets a
> kick out of the reactions to some of his posts, but anyone who knows
> how to work the Internet knows that the links generated by posting
> to quality mailing lists generate traffic, prompt better positioning
> on some of the most popular search engines on the Internet and help
> build a reputation of some sorts for the poster.

I never actually considered the search engine issue relating to this list.
It's my default sig in Outlook and I'm too lazy to worry about changing it
just for this list.

>
> 	Quite simply, like it or not, whether he does it for his
> health or not, regardless of how he avoids admitting it, and
> regardless of how we argue the semantics, Dan is text book example
> of a highly motivated and a very professional viral marketer at work.

Not in the example we were discussing which involves sending unsolicited
email to friends, family and strangers for the sole purpose of promoting a
site for affiliate commissions. Certainly not why I post to or read this
list. If I wanted to promote something to this list I'd probably post a
direct link to a specific section of my site of more general interest
instead of the main page.

> He may not be doing it as loudly or as unprofessionally as those in
> the example that prompted this thread, but the end result is the
> same. Marketing is marketing even if the marketing effort is
> intended to generate name recognition and/or a reputation rather
> than income.

Attempting to compare a sig file to a post for which the sole purpose is to
promote a site reminds me of the Usenet spammers who attempt to excuse their
posts by pointing to all the legit posters who have sig files.

>
> 	There's absolutely no shame whatsoever in running a very
> effective low pressure marketing program and there isn't any
> shame in being good at what one does. Nor need anyone make excuses
> for doing what they do in order to make an honest buck.

An honest buck isn't made by stealing resources with spam. I don't know of
an ISP that doesn't prohibit it in their TOS so violating a contract isn't
the way to make an honest buck.

>
> 	Sales is also the oldest profession in the world. There is
> another profession which is usually said to be the oldest but it's
> actually a subset of sales, and it's also a profession in which
> viral marketing is commonly and very effectively used. Truth be
> told, nothing happens unless a sale is made. Sales are what puts a
> roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes in the closet, money
> in our pockets, and how we convince someone to share their lives
> with us.

Yes a sale does that. A sales pitch doesn't.

>
> 	But unless Dan is and has been working this list for
> absolutely nothing more than the sheer joy of working it then, and
> as much as it pains me to say this, Dan may very well be the very
> best example of a viral marketing guru at work that I've ever had
> the pleasure of stumbling upon.

I wish.

--
Dan Kriwitsky




_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com